A record artists view of P2P

Well, old Al is back to rant about the entertainment industry again...sort of. I found a very interesting article by Janis Ian ( www.janisian.com ), a recording artist from back in the 70's. Some of us older members may remember a song or two of hers, like 'At Seventeen' or 'Society's Child'. If you are interested in the wonderful thread on 'Hollywood Hacking', started by Khakisrule, then you really need to give this one a read. I intend to cut and paste the text into another email to my senators and representatives to hammer the point home that the entertainment industry is deceiving us. Pay *CLOSE* attention to what she has to say about her 'Royalty Statements' that she gets from the record company. Take a look for yourselves...

http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html

This sort of thing is indicative of the way statistics and information are being tossed around. It's dreadful to think that consumers are being asked to take responsibility for the industry's problems, which have been around far longer than the Internet. It's even worse to think that the consumer is being told they are charged with protecting us, the artists, when our own industry squanders the dollars we earn on waste and personal vendettas.

I couldn't have said it better.

Great article!!! I'm forwarding the link to several people who I KNOW will find it as interesting as I did. *tosses ya some greenies*

Thanks, GG...I've been telling people these things for months now, but most folks seem to think I'm crazy. The RIAA is only for the RIAA, not the artist! Since this is coming from a successful recording artist, maybe people will start to pay attention to what is really going on here. This is about RIAA member profits, and the copyright-holders don't even figure into the equation.

If anyone hasn't read Khakisrule's post, go take a peek via the link below. You REALLY need to see this!!

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=232759

This article really brings up some excellent points concerning statistics...

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"Analysts report that just one of the many peer-to-peer systems in operation is responsible for over 1.8 billion unauthorized downloads per month".

Janis: Who's to say that any of those people would have bought the CD's if the songs weren't available for free?

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Great point. It's a stretch, but who's also not to say that any of these people already own a legal copy of the downloaded material? Some people may just be too lazy or may not have the knowledge of how to rip songs from their legal CDs.

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"Sales of blank CD-R discs have…grown nearly 2 ½ times in the last two years…if just half the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, the number of burned CDs worldwide is about the same as the number of CDs sold at retail."

Janis: Additionally, when I buy a new CD, I make a copy for my car, a copy for upstairs, and a copy for my partner. That's three blank discs per CD. So I alone account for around 750 blank CDs yearly.

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I do the same thing when i buy a new CD. I always make a copy for my car. Also, is there any real proof that half or even that many CD-R's are being used to copy music CDs? Like the author said "Soft statistics are easily manipulated".

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"Music sales are already suffering from the impact…in the United States, sales decreased by more than 10% in 2001."

Janis: I'm sure the sales decrease had nothing to do with the economy's decrease, or a steady downward spiral in the music industry, or the garbage being pushed by record companies.

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That's true. There isn't any solid proof that this decrease in music sales had any direct link to free music downloads. Yes, the number of people who download music for free has increased a considerable amount...but just because these statistics have increased, doesn't mean it has a any ties to the decrease in music sales. Our nation is still recovering economically mind you, from the events back in September of 2001. I'm not sure about other people, but when i'm struggling financially, i tend to spend my money on more important things such as food, bills, gas...not CDs.

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"In a recent survey of music consumers, 23%…said they are not buying more music because they are downloading or copying their music for free."

Janis: Which music consumers? College kids who can't afford to buy 10 new CDs a month, but want to hear their favorite groups?

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Great point. Who exactly does this 23% represent? And how much music did they originally buy before they started downloading for free? It could be that they only bought a new CD once a year. Of course they would be downloading or copying their music more, given the low frequency of music purchases.

Great article, Al. Thanks for sharing. :)

WE THE PEOPLE are the first line of defense in this matter. I have taken the liberty of writing a generic email for concerned members to use to protest this piece of legislation. I am also re-posting the links that will get people in contact with their congress-person. Feel free to use the attached document as you see fit, make any changes you deem needed, whatever. The main thing is that you USE it, make your voice heard. To quote the motto of my own state, "United we stand, divided...we FALL."


U.S. Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm

U.S. House of Representatives:
http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.php

This subject is a little like whats going on with Baseball. People gotta realize that without us the Consumer or Fan there is no music or Baseball.

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This subject is a little like whats going on with Baseball. People gotta realize that without us the Consumer or Fan there is no music or Baseball.

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Just a point of clarification mrkangaroo; without the consumer/fan there is not music INDUSTRY.

And my .02 - As one who has marketed their own CD's online and at shows I gotta agree with the original article about selling CD's because mp3's were available for free. My band sold ~300 CD's as a direct result of listens at mp3.com or dl's from our site. And another thing the industry hates is live taping, but there are many national acts that simply wouldn't exist without that word of mouth. MP3 are the next version of live taping and CD-R/DVD-R is the next generation cassette tape. That was supposed to ruin the music biz & entertainment industry too. Bah!

Well, I simply stats aside todays music is a bunch of cattle call marketing stuff. Take away the sound correcting mics for a singer can todays singers sing? What is with all the canned band sounds some sort of off the shelf drum machine thing? Guess my point is you have to really look hard to find good music now days. Sure Celine can sing but it's getting a bit old not like her old stuff. Good ol' Janis Ian" she has called the studio crap since she was well 17. I do not condone the DDos of their site but then they are asking for a law that would let them break my computer and it may just be the 17 year old son. So they want war well I'll not do anything but many others will. Music today is best described by my 17 year old son as Dad watch "Wanna Be A Star" or something like that the cattle call here this is good music because it's marketing crap. Music is an art and the Music Industry is about marketing. Try some Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bill Miller, Robert Mirabal, humm just a couple off the top of my head throw in Sir Paul, Bruce. Ok Ok look at it this way at least Michael Jackson's come back was a flop we should be happy :). There is Music as an art and Music Marketing two different things.

WEll....what can I say...the RIAA is back with a vengeance. Evidently the average P2P'er is as unpopular with the DOJ as middle eastern muslims. Thats right....if you are using Kazaa, you are just as bad as Osama, Sadam, or Kenny-boy Lay. Check it out...

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954591.html

Actually, I think the RIAA is completely justified in being petrified. They are an organization that built itself on promoting artists, and labels at a huge cost to them in marketing, but with an equally huge payoff in profits. But thanks to the internet, their marketing strategies have become outdated. Artists and labels now have multiple outlets to promote their works, and the RIAA's pricetag is becoming more and more unreasonable. Let's face it, the RIAA is facing their evolutionary fork in the road, and it kills me to see so many companies stubbornly clinging to the way things "used to be" just because it worked for them, and then whine when it no longer works! If these dinosaurs can't evolve with this society, they have no place in this society anymore. Consumers now want to trade MP3's with each other. Instead of complaining about their profit margin taking a digger, why don't they get together, and find a way to capitalize on the trading? I dunno...maybe create some centralized server where folks can come on and trade with each other and search for songs they want to hear. Perhaps charge a modest monthly fee for the service. You could call it Napst...wait. Didn't someone already do that?

Many thanks for posting this article Al, I am going to include a link to it on my own website to help the cause along in my own small way.

I wonder what will happen when this senator begins to realize exactly what this will cause. I'm no senator but I can see right now that there will be a huge backlash against this including not only a massive cyber attack but also angry mobs of protestors and a boycott against buying cd's (although it would probably be short lived). Also, if this idea ever comes to congress to be passed as a law, I think there *must* be someone who's not so out of touch with reality to realize the consequences who would point out all the problems and keep the law from being passed. Thanks a lot, allenb1963, for posting that link. I found it very interesting and I plan to pass it around.